The fabrication of aircraft requires drilling many holes into thick aluminum sections. There is a tendency for the long metal strands created by drilling to travel up the drill flutes and become wedged between the tool and its holder. This can jam the drill or break it. The long, curly metal shavings are also sharp and difficult to vacuum.
Prior attempts to solve this problem involved redesigning drill bits to break the strands into smaller pieces However, no acceptable solution was found, the best results being the production of finer, but still unwieldy, long, curly scrap.